The 44-year-old Newark mayor doesn’t want to follow in Obama’s footsteps — at least that’s what he claims. But as he appears poised to become the next New Jersey senator in the Oct. 16 special election, the two-term mayor may end up voting well to the left of the president — and become the biggest Democratic celebrity in town.

In a wide-ranging interview here, Booker said he’s opposed to trimming benefits on entitlement programs, even as the president has considered doing so as part of deficit talks. He said the bad actors from the 2008 financial crisis should “absolutely” go to jail, even as the administration has yet to put shackles on top Wall Street executives. Booker “absolutely” supports medical marijuana, even as the president is reluctant about legalizing it.

And Booker added that he’s deeply skeptical about military engagement in Syria, even as Obama calls for strikes against the Bashar Assad regime.

“My default position is against military engagement,” Booker said, though he cautioned he had not been privy to classified intelligence on Syria. “When it comes to my values, I’m a person who believes that America should do everything it can to promote, maintain and ensure peace.”

During his time in Newark, Booker has sparked liberal ire over his friendship with GOP Gov. Chris Christie, rankled some local Democrats and infuriated the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg and his inner circle. But despite that, Booker could very well be exactly what Democrats in Washington want: a liberal celebrity. Democratic leaders are eager for Booker to hit the fundraising circuit, stump for their candidates and energize their party in a way that virtually no other Senate Democrat can effectively pull off.

In some ways, Booker may end up being the Democrats’ version of Marco Rubio: an attractive, eloquent and press-savvy pol whose core beliefs are firmly in line with his base — but who may break from his party from time to time.

While Booker’s style has irked some Democrats, he has only sparingly broken with the left , like on school vouchers and education reform. Asked to identify the issues in which he splits from his party in Washington, Booker couldn’t do it. “In some ways, you’re going to have to tell me that. I know where I’m passionate, and I don’t first ask, ‘Does my party agree with this or not?’”

And in recent days, he has taken steps to bolster his support on the left, including with a broad proposal calling for major reforms to the criminal justice system, including abolishing privately run prisons, pumping money into rehabilitation programs and reducing the incarceration rate by getting rid of mandatory minimum sentences for low-level drug offenses. He says “at the top of my list” is dealing with poverty in America.

Booker skated to victory over three Democratic foes in the primary, buoyed by a surprisingly high turnout through which he secured more than 216,000 votes in a primary in the middle of the August vacation season.

To keep the Democratic turnout low in November, many suspect that Christie scheduled the Senate special election for October, rather than to coincide with his own reelection bid a month later. And while Christie has endorsed Booker’s opponent, Steve Lonegan, he avoids criticizing Booker — and both men say their alliance is a sign of their ability to work across the aisle.

“Even though we both could write dissertations on our disagreements, the reality is we’re friends,” Booker says, noting that Christie sent him a text message last week asking about his father’s health.

Nonetheless, on the campaign trail — just like Obama did in his meteoric rise — Booker is eager to lament the “vicious” nature of politics and call for the two parties to work together.

But Booker is not afraid to throw a punch back — as he’s done in recent days as the race has taken an unusual turn over his personal life. After the unmarried Booker told The Washington Post last month that voters shouldn’t care about his sexual orientation — “so what does it matter if I am [gay]?” — Lonegan said Booker was “acting ambiguous” and questioned his opponent’s manliness.

Booker told POLITICO that Lonegan’s comments amounted to “bigotry.”

“What he just did in one fell swoop is not only to reflect some of the darkness of his spirit but frankly insult millions of people of America and around the globe,” Booker said.

Should Booker win the special election to fill out Lautenberg’s term, he would be the most junior member of a chamber where seniority typically rules. In today’s Senate, that may not mean as much, since big personalities can seize the spotlight and drive the national debate, something Booker can certainly do.

Still, if Booker wants to push through legislation and become a deal maker, he’ll have to develop relationships in a chamber where ego-stroking, bridge-building and back-slapping are often tied to legislative success. Whether he can do that depends on whom you ask.

“The institution, as I know it, does not look kindly on a junior senator stepping in believing they could go to the head of the class,” said Sheila Oliver, the New Jersey state Assembly speaker who lost to Booker in the Senate primary. “I think that whole persona may need to be minimized to a degree.”